Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri (10 June 1916-2 December 2001) was a politician and was involved in the Pakistan Movement.
Khan Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri belonged to the Niazi tribe in Rokhri, Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan and also had roots in Samand Khel. He was also known as Khan Sahab a title given by the British to him and to his father. They became the first father and son to have been awarded the title. Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri returned the title to the British on the call of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Activism

As a member of the independence movement, Rokhri was jailed by the British because he removed the Union Jack from the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Mianwali District. He also participated in the Kashmir freedom struggle in 1948, his brother Habib Ullah Khan Rokhri fell martyr fighting in Kashmir.

Career

After the foundation of Pakistan, he became the first Chairman of the District Council of Mianwali. He was also Elected MLA in 1946 and then again in 1951. He also served as an MPA in 1972. In the elections of 1977, Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri was elected MNA defeating the candidate of the PNA, Maulana Abdus Sattar Niazi. He served in the Senate from 1985 to 1997 whereas in the meantime his son, Aamer Hayat Khan Rokhri served as an MPA and MNA and his nephew, Gul Hameed Khan Rokhri also served as an MPA, MNA and Punjab Food Minister. Rokhri did not only succeed from Mianwali rather he also succeeded in Bhakkar. He was a close companion of Amir Mohammad Khan, Governor of West Pakistan. He was also a close friend of Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi and Ayub Khan (his son is married to Ayub’s granddaughter). Rokhri was offered the governorship many times but consistently refused. He was referred to as “Waday Khan Sahib” in Mianwali. He was one of the Pakistan Muslim League’s senior leaders, and worked alongside Quaid-e-Azam.

Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri received the award for Tehrik-i-Pakistan from the then Governor of Punjab, Makhdoom Sajjad Hussain Qureshi. He was awarded a Gold Medal by Nawaz Sharif for being a senior member of the independence movement.

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Pakistani Punjab despite the opposition of figures such as Mian Mumtaz Daultana, Chief Minister of Punjab.

Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri along with Balakh Sher Mazari, Anwar Noon, Sardar Sikandar Hayat, and Sardar Ahmad Ali resigned from the National Assembly when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto jailed their close friend, Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi. Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri was a close friend of the Pir of Pagaro, Makhdoom Hassan Mehmood, Maulana Abdus Sattar Niazi, Balakh Sher Mazari, Colonel Abid Hussain and others. The affection the people of Mianwali had for Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri was obvious to anyone who attended his funeral. His death was condoled by leaders from every party whereas many leading politicians attended his funeral in his ancestral village of Rokhri including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former Prime Minister, Chaudhry Shafaat Hussain, Zila Nazim Gujrat, Gohar Ayub Khan, former Foreign Minister & Speaker of NA, Syeda Abida Hussain, former Federal Minister, and others. Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri’s political influence was greatest in the district of Mianwali and Bhakkar. The Utra’s and Dhandla’s of Bhakkar were close political companions of Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri.

Family

Rokhri was the founder of New Khan, the largest transport company in Pakistan. His son Aamir Hayat Khan Rokhri controls the company now.

He wrote an autobiography Main aur Mera Pakistan.

He leaves behind a son and five daughters. His son Aamir Hayat Khan Rokhri is a MPA and his nephew Gul Hameed Khan Rokhri, is a former MPA, MNA and Punjab Revenue, Relief & Consolidations Minister. Gul Hameed Rokhri’s son, Humair Hayat Khan Rokhri is also an MNA.

Gul Hameed Khan Rokhri

Gul Hameed Khan Rokhri is a Pakistani politician. Throughout his political career, he has been a member of the Provincial Assembly, been elected as an MNA, and then later became the Punjab Revenue, Relief & Consolidations Minister. Currently, he is the District President of the Pakistan Muslim League.
Gul Hameed Rokhri comes from a well-known Pukhtun family, with a Niazi background .

His family has a strong political background. He is the son of Ghulam Haider Khan Niazi of Rokhri and is the nephew of Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri. His son Humair Hayat Khan Rokhri was a former District Nazim of Mianwali, and is currently a member of the National Assembly. His brother Asghar Khan Rokhri is at present the Town Nazim of the city of Rokhri, Mianwali and his cousin Aamir Hayat Khan Niazi is an MPA. His son-in-law, Chaudhry Shafaat Hussain, is the City Nazim of Gujrat.

He has previously served as the Vice Chairman of the District Council of Mianwali from 1965-69, and was the Chairman from 1983-87. He has been elected to the Provincial Assembly three times and was elected as an MNA in the elections of 1990. He also functioned as Advisor to Chief Minister during 1986-88 and as Minister for Food, Punjab during 1989-90.

In the 2002 general elections, Gul Hameed Khan Rokhri won two seats – PP44, PP45. He vacated PP44 and retained PP45. He was later made the Punjab Revenue, Relief & Consolidations Minister.

Aamir Hayat Khan Niazi

Aamir Hayat Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician, and a current member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly.[1] He is the son of the late Pakistani politician and political activist, Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri, and comes from the renowned Rokhri family which include other of his distinguished relatives such as his cousins Gul Hameed Khan Rokhri and Gul Hameed’s son Humair Hayat Khan Rokhri.

Apart from his stand in provincial politics, Aamir Hayat Niazi also controls his thriving family business New Khan, a transport company. The company was founded by his father.

Aamer Hayat Khan Rokhri is also the President of Lahore City Cricket Association and has held that position since 1985. He is also the Secretary General of Pakistan Badminton Federation.

Nawab of Kalabagh

Nawab of Kalabagh is a title of the feudatory lord of Kalabagh in Mianwali District of north western Punjab, Pakistan.

Amir Mohammad Khan was the last Nawab of Kalabagh as it choose to merge with Pakistan in 1947.

During the British Raj Kalabagh was not made a princely state by the British. It was a jagir that had been ruled by the Nawabs since the time of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni.

Amir Mohammad Khan

Malik Amir Mohammad Khan (died 1967) also known as Nawab of Kalabagh was a prominent feudal lord, politician and the seventh nawab of Kalabagh state, in Mianwali District of north western Punjab, Pakistan.He belonged to the Awan tribe of ancient repute. He was crowned as Nawab of Kalabagh after the death of his father Malik Ata Muhammad Khan in 1924. He also served as Governor of West Pakistan. He belongs to the nobility of the sword as his ancestors were Nawabs for nearly 900 years.

The Nawab

He was appointed Chairman Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation with the rank of a Central Minister in 1959, and subsequently Governor of West Pakistan on 12 April 1960 by Pakistan President General Ayub Khan. Both Nawab Amir Mohammad Khan and Sandhurst trained General Wajid Ali Khan Burki were instrumental in Ayub Khan’s Rise to power, until today the three families retain adjoining houses in Islamabad.

An autonomous and harsh ruler with great administrative capabilities, the Nawab remained Governor of West Pakistan till September 18, 1966.[4] He was an Aitchison College and then Oxford graduate. His role during the Indo-Pak war of 1965 is praised as he kept the law and order, controlled the prices, trafficking of the raw material and prevented the smuggling.

He has also been described as a man of principles and traditions. He liked to remain in the national dress and his cabinet members tried to please him by doing so. He once declined to shake hands with the British Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Pakistan. Ayub Khan asked him to receive her at Airport but he didn’t do that.

On 26 November 1967 he was found murdered under mysterious circumstances.

Descendants

His son Malik Muzaffar Khan won the National Assembly seat from NW-44, Mianwali-I in December 1970 elections. His other son Malik Allah Yar also remained the member of Majlis-e-Shoora during General Zia-ul-Haq’s military regime. His grandson Malik Amad Khan won the National Assembly seat from NA-71 Mianwali-I , in February 2008 elections as an independent candidate. His granddaughter, Sumaira Malik, is still a member of the National Assembly.

Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan

Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, or simply Malik Amad Khan (born March 8, 1973) is the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and member of Majlis-e-Shoora since 2008. He is one of the youngest members of the Cabinet of Pakistan.

Early years

Malik Amad Khan was born to a prominent politically active family tracing its roots to Awan tribe on March 8, 1973 in Mianwali district of Pakistan.His grandfather Malik Amir Muhammad Khan, Nawab of Kalabagh had been the Governor of West Pakistan from 1960-1966. His uncles Malik Muzaffar Khan and Malik Allah Yar have been, and his cousin Sumaira Malik is still a member of Pakistani parliament. Having completed his secondary education in Islamabad, Khan enrolled in Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, graduating from the school in 1992. He was then commissioned in the 26th Cavalry of Pakistan Army Armoured Corps Regiment. He resigned his commission in 1999.

Political career

In February 2008, he ran as an independent and was elected to Majlis-e-Shoora (the Pakistani Parliament) from his home constituency in Mianwali, NA-71,Mainwali-I. He later joined the Pakistan Peoples Party because of its progressive agenda. After starting his term, Malik Amad Khan has been a member of three parliamentary committees: Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Standing Committee, Standing Committee on Information & Broadcasting, and Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs & Northern Areas. He was also Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in November 8, 2008.

Imran Khan Niazi (born 25 November 1952) is a retired Pakistani cricketer who played international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century and has been a politician since the mid-1990s. Currently, besides his political activism, Khan is also a philanthropist and cricket commentator.

Khan played for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and served as its captain intermittently throughout 1982-1992. After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup, he was called back to join the team in 1988. At 39, Khan led his teammates to Pakistan’s first and only World Cup victory in 1992. He has a record of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an ‘All-rounder’s Triple’ in Test matches.On 14 July 2010, Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

In April 1996, Khan founded and became the chairman of a political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice).He represented Mianwali as a member of the National Assembly from November 2002 to October 2007.Khan, through worldwide fundraising, helped establish the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in 1996 and Mianwali’s Namal College in 2008.

Family, education, and personal life

Imran Khan was born to Shaukat Khanum (Burki) and Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, in Lahore. A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up in a middle-class Niazi Pathan family with four sisters.Settled in Punjab, Khan’s father descended from the Pashtun (Pathan) Niazi Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali in Punjab .Imran’s Mother Shaukat Khanam (Burki’s) family includes successful hockey players and cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan.Khan was educated at Aitchison College, the Cathedral School in Lahore, and the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics.

Marriage to Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith

On 16 May 1995, Khan married English socialite Jemima Goldsmith, a convert to Islam, in a two-minute Islamic ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond register office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths’ house in Surrey.The marriage, described as “tough” by Khan, produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999).As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khans had divorced because it was “difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan”.

Khan now resides in Bani Gala, Islamabad, where he built a farmhouse with the money he gained from selling his London flat. He grows fruit trees, wheat, and keeps cows, while also maintaining a cricket ground for his two sons, who visit during their holidays.

Cricket career

Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71).Khan was part of Oxford University’s Blues Cricket team during the 1973-75 seasons.At Worcestershire, where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975–76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–76 to 1980-81). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex.

In 1971, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England at Birmingham. Three years later, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Nottingham for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976-77 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia.Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket.His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to establish when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.Khan also achieved a Test Cricket Bowling rating of 922 points against India on 30 January 1983. Highest at the time, the performance ranks third on ICC’s All Time Test Bowling Rating.

Khan achieved the all-rounder’s triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham’s 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order.He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England at Melbourne, Australia.He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136 runs. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world’s fourth bowler to do so.In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score remains 102 not out. His best ODI bowling is documented at 6 wickets for 14 runs.

Captaincy

At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistani cricket team from Javed Miandad. Recalling his initial discomfort with this new role, he later said, “When I became the cricket captain, I couldn’t speak to the team directly I was so shy. I had to tell the manager, I said listen can you talk to them, this is what I want to convey to the team. I mean early team meetings I use to be so shy and embarrassed I couldn’t talk to the team.”[16] As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, out of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the rest of 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie.

In the team’s second match under his leadership, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord’s.Khan’s first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981-82.He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982-83, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain.

This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984-85 season.

In 1987, Khan led Pakistan to its first Test series win in India, which was followed by Pakistan’s first series victory in England the same year.During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President Of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team.Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as “the last time I really bowled well”.He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 tests.

Khan’s career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting lineup, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to play in the top order along with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. At the age of 39, Khan scored the highest runs of all the Pakistani batsmen and took the winning last wicket himself.

Post-retirement

In 1994, Khan had admitted that, during Test matches, he “occasionally scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam.” He had also added, “Only once did I use an object. When Sussex were playing Hampshire in 1981 the ball was not deviating at all. I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top and it started to move around a lot.”In 1996, Khan successfully defended himself in a libel action brought forth by former English captain and all-rounder Ian Botham and batsman Allan Lamb over comments they alleged were made by Khan in two articles about the above-mentioned ball-tampering and another article published in an Indian magazine, India Today. They claimed that, in the latter publication, Khan had called the two cricketers “racist, ill-educated and lacking in class.” Khan protested that he had been misquoted, saying that he was defending himself after having admitted that he tampered with a ball in a county match 18 years ago.Khan won the libel case, which the judge labeled a “complete exercise in futility”, with a 10-2 majority decision by the jury.

Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India’s Outlook magazine,the Guardian,the Independent, and the Telegraph. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu and the Star TV network.In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports’ special live show, Straight Drive, while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series.He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for BBC during the 1999 World Cup.

In November 2009 Khan underwent emergency surgery at Lahore’s Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital to remove an obstruction in his small intestine.

Social work

For more than four years after retiring from cricket in 1992, Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organization bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust’s maiden endeavor, Khan established Pakistan’s first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world.Inspired by the memory of his mother, who died of cancer, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, a charitable cancer hospital with 75 percent free care, opened in Lahore on 29 December 1994.Khan currently serves as the chairman of the hospital and continues to raise funds through charity and public donations.Princess of Wales [Lady Diana] also visited Lahore in 1996 in order to raise funds for the Cancer hospital.

During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF’s Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunization programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

On 27 April 2008, Khan’s brainchild, a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College, was inaugurated. Namal College was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), as chaired by Khan, and was made an associate college of the University of Bradford (of which Khan is Chancellor) in December 2005.Currently, Khan is building another cancer hospital in Karachi, using his successful Lahore institution as a model. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity.

Political work

A few years after the end of his professional career as a cricketer, Khan entered electoral politics. Since then, his most significant political work has been to bring awareness of lack of justice in Pakistan. His movement to bring justice was coupled with awareness in media and harassment of judiciary by President Pervez Musharaf. The public, with the help of lawyers, NGO’s and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf fought a battle on the roads, getting judiciary eventually restored in its much improved (impartial) form. Initially Khan’s politics were not taken seriously in Pakistan, however his popularity has sharply risen, especially among women and young generation of Paksitan, after the repeated bad governance by the government and interference by US. Recently, Imran Khan has been the only politician who has responded to terrorism allegations on Pakistan. While Khan is viewed as a fundamentalist by some political circles, he has suggested solutions for helping US and NATO forces to fight terrorism while at the same time, not creating more terrorists in Pakistan.

Imran Khan is sometimes viewed as a stubborn politician who does not involve others in decision making. However, Imran Khan has openly denied this allegation and claimed that the level of democracy in the executive committee meeting of his party (PTI) is unmatched by any other political party in Pakistan. While many people seem hopeless about Imran’s political victory in Pakistan, he has known to someone possessing high level of determination and perseverance, as demonstrated by his cricket and philanthropic career. His political popularity is rising quickly in Pakistan and although the party has only one seat in 2002 elections and kept out of elections in 2008, resulting in no representation in Parliament, Imran Khan is considered as the one of the four major political leaders in Pakistan, especially by mainstream media (others being Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Altaf Hussain).

On 25 April 1996, Khan founded his own political party called the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with a proposed slogan of “Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem.”Khan, who contested from 7 districts, and members of his party were universally defeated at the polls in the 1997 general elections. Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf’s military coup in 1999, but denounced his presidency a few months before the 2002 general elections. Many political commentators and his opponents termed Khan’s change in opinion an opportunistic move. “I regret supporting the referendum. I was made to understand that when he won, the general would begin a clean-up of the corrupt in the system. But really it wasn’t the case,” he later explained.During the 2002 election season, he also voiced his opposition to Pakistan’s logistical support of US troops in Afghanistan by claiming that their country had become a “servant of America.”PTI won 0.8% of the popular vote and one out of 272 open seats on the 20 October 2002 legislative elections. Khan, who was elected from the NA-71 constituency of Mianwali, was sworn in as an MP on 16 November.As an MP, he was part of the Standing Committees on Kashmir and Public Accounts, and expressed legislative interest in Foreign Affairs, Education and Justice.

On 6 May 2005, Khan became one of the first Muslim figures to criticize a 300-word Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Qur’an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Khan held a press conference to denounce the article and demanded that Gen. Pervez Musharraf secure an apology from American president George W. Bush for the incident.In 2006, he exclaimed, “Musharraf is sitting here, and he licks George Bush’s shoes!” Criticizing Muslim leaders supportive of the Bush administration, he added, “They are the puppets sitting on the Muslim world. We want a sovereign Pakistan. We do not want a president to be a poodle of George Bush.” During George W. Bush’s visit to Pakistan in March 2006, Khan was placed under house arrest in Islamabad after his threats of organizing a protest.In June 2007, the federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr. Sher Afghan Khan Niazi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party filed separate ineligibility references against Khan, asking for his disqualification as member of the National Assembly on grounds of immorality. Both references, filed on the basis of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan, were rejected on 5 September.

On 2 October 2007, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement, Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the Presidential election scheduled for 6 October, which General Musharraf was contesting without resigning as army chief.On 3 November 2007, Khan was put under house arrest at his father’s home hours after President Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. Khan had demanded the death penalty for Musharraf after the imposition of emergency rule, which he equated to “committing treason”. The next day, on 4 November, Khan escaped and went into peripatetic hiding.He eventually came out of hiding on 14 November to join a student protest at the University of the Punjab.At the rally, Khan was captured by students from the Jamaat-i-Islami political party, who claimed that Khan was an uninvited nuisance at the rally, and they handed him over to the police, who charged him under the Anti-terrorism act for allegedly inciting people to pick up arms, calling for civil disobedience, and for spreading hatred.[38] Incarcerated in the Dera Ghazi Khan Jail, Khan’s relatives had access to him and were able to meet him to deliver goods during his week-long stay in jail. On 19 November, Khan let out the word through PTI members and his family that he had begun a hunger strike but the Deputy Superintendent of Dera Ghazi Khan Jail denied this news, saying that Khan had bread, eggs and fruit for breakfast.Khan was one of the 3,000 political prisoners released from imprisonment on 21 November 2007.

His party boycotted the national elections on 18 February 2008 and hence, no member of PTI has served in Parliament since Khan’s resignation in 2007. Despite no longer being a member of Parliament, Khan was placed under house arrest in the crackdown by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of anti-government protests on 15 March 2009.

Ideology

Khan’s proclaimed political platform and declarations include: Islamic values, to which he rededicated himself in the 1990s; liberal economics, with the promise of deregulating the economy and creating a welfare state; decreased bureaucracy and anti-corruption laws, to create and ensure a clean government; the establishment of an independent judiciary; overhaul of the country’s police system; and an anti-militant vision for a democratic Pakistan.

Khan has credited his decision to enter politics with a spiritual awakening, influenced by his conversations with a mystic from the Sufi sect of Islam that began in the last years of his cricket career. “I never drank or smoked, but I used to do my share of partying. In my spiritual evolution there was a block,” he explained to the American Washington Post. As an MP, Khan sometimes voted with a bloc of hard-line religious parties such as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, whose leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he supported for prime minister over Musharraf’s candidate in 2002. On religion in Pakistan, Khan has said that, “As time passes by, religious thought has to evolve, but it is not evolving, it is reacting against Western culture and often has nothing to do with faith or religion.”

Khan told Britain’s Daily Telegraph, “I want Pakistan to be a welfare state and a genuine democracy with a rule of law and an independent judiciary.”Other ideas he has presented include a requirement of all students to spend a year after graduation teaching in the countryside and cutting down the over-staffed bureaucracy in order to send them to teach too.”We need decentralisation, empowering people at the grass roots,” he has said.In June 2007, Khan publicly deplored Britain for knighting Indian-born author Salman Rushdie. He said, “Western civilisation should have been mindful of the injury the writer had caused to the Muslim community by writing his highly controversial book, The Satanic Verses.”

Criticism

During the 1970s and 1980s, Khan became known as a socialite due to his “non-stop partying” at London nightclubs such as Annabel’s and Tramp. though he claims to have hated English pubs and never drank alcohol.He also gained notoriety in London gossip columns for romancing young debutantes such as Susannah Constantine, Lady Liza Campbell and the artist Emma Sergeant.

Khan is often dismissed as a political lightweight and a celebrity outsider in Pakistan, where national newspapers also refer to him as a “spoiler politician”. Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a political party known for intolerance and which has been continuously viewed as a party which spreads terrorism, robberies and forced money collection in Karachi, has asserted that Khan is “a sick person who has been a total failure in politics and is alive just because of the media coverage”.The Political observers say the crowds he draws are attracted by his cricketing celebrity, and the public has been reported to view him as a figure of entertainment rather than a serious political authority.

The Guardian newspaper in England described Khan as a “miserable politician,” observing that, “Khan’s ideas and affiliations since entering politics in 1996 have swerved and skidded like a rickshaw in a rainshower… He preaches democracy one day but gives a vote to reactionary mullahs the next.”The charge constantly raised against Khan is that of hypocrisy and opportunism, including what has been called his life’s “playboy to puritan U-turn.”One of Pakistan’s most controversial political commentators, Najam Sethi, stated that, “A lot of the Imran Khan story is about backtracking on a lot of things he said earlier, which is why this doesn’t inspire people.”Khan’s political flip-flops consist of his vocal criticism of President Musharraf after having supported his military takeover in 1999. Similarly, Khan has been a critic of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when Sharif was in power, having said at the time: “Our current prime minister has a fascist mind-set, and members of parliament cannot go against the ruling party. We think that every day he stays in power, the country is sinking more into anarchy.” In a column entitled “Will the Real Imran Please Stand Up,” Pakistani columnist Amir Zia quoted one of PTI’s Karachi-based leaders as saying, “Even we are finding it difficult to figure out the real Imran. He dons the shalwar-kameez and preaches desi and religious values while in Pakistan, but transforms himself completely while rubbing shoulders with the elite in Britain and elsewhere in the west.”

In 2008, as part of the Hall of Shame awards for 2007, Pakistan’s Newsline magazine gave Khan the “Paris Hilton award for being the most undeserving media darling.” The ‘citation’ for Khan read: “He is the leader of a party that is the proud holder of one National Assembly seat (and) gets media coverage inversely proportional to his political influence.” The Guardian has described the coverage garnered by Khan’s post-retirement activities in England, where he made his name as a cricket star and a night-club regular., as “terrible tosh, with danger attached. It turns a great (and greatly miserable) Third World nation into a gossip-column annex. We may all choke on such frivolity.”After the 2008 general elections, political columnist Azam Khalil addressed Khan, who remains respected as a cricket legend, as one of the “utter failures in Pakistani politics”.Writing in the Frontier Post, Khalil added: “Imran Khan has time and again changed his political course and at present has no political ideology and therefore was not taken seriously by a vast majority of the people.”

Recently, Imran Khan has gained a lot of popularity and support from renowned anchors and columnists in Pakistan, like Kashif Abbasi, Haroon ur Rasheed, etc.

Awards and honours

In 1992, Khan was given Pakistan’s civil award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz. He had received the President’s Pride of Performance Award in 1983. Khan is featured in the University of Oxford’s Hall of Fame and has been an honorary fellow of Oxford’s Keble College.On 7 December 2005, Khan was appointed the fifth Chancellor of the University of Bradford, where he is also a patron of the Born in Bradford research project.

In 1976 as well as 1980, Khan was awarded The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class cricket. He was also named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1983, Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year in 1985, and the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1990.Khan is currently placed at Number 8 on the all-time list of the ESPN Legends of Cricket. On 5 July 2008, he was one of several veteran Asian cricketers presented special silver jubilee awards at the inaugural Asian cricket Council (ACC) award ceremony in Karachi.

On 8 July 2004, Khan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Asian Jewel Awards in London, for “acting as a figurehead for many international charities and working passionately and extensively in fund-raising activities.On 13 December 2007, Khan received the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in Kuala Lumpur for his efforts in setting up the first cancer hospital in Pakistan.In 2009, at International Cricket Council’s centennial year celebration, Khan was one of fifty-five cricketers inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

Writings by Khan

Khan occasionally contributes opinion editorials on cricket and Pakistani politics to British newspapers. He has also published five works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy. It was disclosed in 2008 that Khan did not write his second book, Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan. Instead, his the book’s publisher Jeremy Lewis revealed in a memoir that he had to write the book for Khan. Lewis recalls that when he asked Khan to show his writing for publication, “he handed me a leatherbound notebook or diary containing a few jottings and autobiographical snippets. It took me, at most, five minutes to read them; and that, it soon became apparent, was all we had to go on.”

• We must address the root causes of this terror, Khan’s editorial in the Independent following the 11 September attacks.

• Benazir Bhutto has only herself to blame, Khan’s 2007 editorial on Bhutto’s return to Pakistan.

Dr.Sher Afgan Niazi

Dr. Sher Afgan Khan Niazi was born on January 1, 1946 in Mianwali District. He has been elected MNA for his fourth term as a PPPP candidate. He later joined PPPP-Patriots. a medical practitioner by profession, he completed an M.B.B.S degree in 1968 from Nishtar Medical College, Multan. He is the Federal Minister for Parliamentary affairs.

He was member Zila Council, Mianwali from1979 to1986, and MNA from 1985 to 1987, 1988 to 1990 and 1993 to 1996. Dr. Niazi was also Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary affairs; Human Rights; Social Welfare and Special Education from 1993 to 1996.

Married with a son and two daughters, his travel experiences include visits to U.S.A, India, Sweden and China.

He elected as member of National assembly in 2002 elections from NA-72 , Mianwali-II

Maulana Kausar Niazi

Maulana Kausar Niazi (1934-1994) was a most powerful federal minister in Pakistan during the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government. He was born in Musa Khel district, Mianwali. He was a religious scholar and orator, who made a name for himself in politics, and was a member in Bhutto’s the Federal Cabinet. He served as a minister and assisted Bhutto for 6 years. He was also a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

He served as the minister of Religious & Minorities Affairs till 1976 and was later appointed the Federal Information Minister.

Maulana Kausar Niazi said that Zia-ul-Haq had deposed and ultimately destroyed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He later visited India as the goodwill emissary of the acting Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi.

In his later years, Maulana Kausar Niazi was rewarded for his loyalty to the Bhutto clan by being nominated to serve as the Chairman of the Islamic Ideology Council during Ms Benazir Bhutto’s second government.

Maulana Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi

Maulana Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi (October 1, 1915-May 2, 2001) was a religious and political leader of Pakistan. He was born at Isakhel in district Mianwali. After initial education, he opted for religious education in Lahore. He obtained his Master’s degree from Islamia College,Lahore, and was later appointed the Dean of Islamic Studies at the same college. He remained at that position until 1947, after which he joined active politics.

Maulana Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi was an active participant in the political struggle for the creation of Pakistan. He was elected the President of Punjab Muslim Students Federation in 1938. He then took the position of the President of the Provinical (Punjab) Muslim League until the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Maulana Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi was elected as Secretary General of the All-Pakistan Awami Muslim League in 1950 under the Presidentship of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. He was briefly arrested along with Abul Ala Maududi by the Pakistan Army for purportedly inciting the Lahore riots of 1953 against the Ahmadiyya. He worked as the Secretary General of the Central Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan from 1973 to 1989 and was elected as the President of the Central Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan in 1989. He was elected member of the National Assembly of Pakistan twice, in 1988 and 1990. He was elected to the Senate of Pakistan in 1994 for a six years term.

Maulana Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi has never married and has devoted his life to his political and religious career.

Attaullah Khan Essa Khailwi

Attaullah Khan Niazi Esakhelvi is a well known folk singer and poet of Pakistan. He belongs to the land of Niazi ‘MIANWALI'(Isa Khel). He has the world record for the highest number of audio albums ever released by a singer. He is traditionally considered a Seraiki artist but mostly he has recorded albums in Punjabi and Urdu which in 2006 were an astonishing 402 albums which is listed in the Guinness book of records. The reason behind his astonishing success is that he sings only for the poor, desperate and afflicted. His voice has a healing effect and is considered one of the best folk singers Pakistan has ever produced. He has dominated the folk music scene of Pakistan for over forty years. He gathers thousands in his audiences whenever and wherever he performs. Attaullah Khan has performed all over the world even in countries like Japan.

He is from the Niazi tribe of the Pashtun people.

He has released smash hits such as Qameez Teri Kaali, Raatan, We Bol Sanwal, Ishq Main Hum Tumain Kya Batayain, Theva Mundri tha Theva and Mahi Wasey Mera He has become one of the most well known singers in Pakistan.

History

Atta Ullah Khan Essa Khelvi was born on 19 August 1951 in a town called Esakhel. This town is situated in the district Mianwali of Pakistan. He belongs to the Niazi Pathan tribe, therefore he was named in his childhood as Atta Ullah Khan Niazi. His showbiz fame got him known as Atta Ullah Khan Essa Khelvi. Esakhel is a town in Mianwali and Atta Ullah Khan has represented his town all over the world – he has also said in many interviews Esakhel is like his ‘mother’.

Right from his childhood he had inner leaning towards music and used to practise singing stealthily behind his parents back. The moment they found out there was trouble for Atta. It resulted in him having been expelled from home. Instead of getting down it provided him an impetus to struggle make a mark in life and he came to the conclusion this could only be achieved through education, so he worked in bits and pieces, continued his education and eventually graduated at Mianwali.

Moreover, He kept nourishing his childhood love of music which had contributed toward his family’s anger and revulsion and made a name for himself to the extent that he was invited to do a show on Radio Pakistan Bahawalpur in 1972. He did a stage show as well in Mianwali the same year. These events increased his popularity. He then appeared on Pakistan Television in a very famous TV Programme called Nilam Ghar from Karachi. These performances projected him as an icon in music field. His Sert was organised and presented in England in 1980 in the north of England in Bradford at St Georges Hall. Atta Ullah Khan had come to the UK in 1979 to perform but was unaware that he required a work permit to perform so returned back to Pakistan and came the following year with his work permit. Atta Ullah Khan does hold a British passport through his work permit as he has spent many years producing albums in the UK under various labels:- Hi tech, OSA, moviebox.

Attaullah Khan is a proud Muslim and has sang many Naats and Kalaams of famous Sufis such as Mian Mohammad Baksh’s Saif Ul Malook and Baba Bulleh Shah’s Keey Bay Dardan Sang Yaree.

Atta Ullah Khan is also a sufi mureed and has been since a very young age and regularly gives a visit to his Murshid in Tounsa Shareef.

He has recorded more than 40000 songs in 7 different languages.

Across the border

Ataullah Khan (as he is commonly known in India) became very famous in India following the use of the lyrics of his songs in the Indian movie Bewafa Sanam, by T-Series. Sonu Nigam, Anuradha Paudwal and Udit Narayan gave voice to his music wherein he went on to become a huge a huge success. Ataullah Khan is a very famous person in India and his soul rendering music touches the hearts of people all over the country.

Personal life

After becoming a singer Atta was settled in Lahore. Atta Ullah Khan married twenty times and remained married to “Bazigha” from who he has all his three children. The name of his elder son is “Sanwal Atta” (has a masters degree in electronic engineering) and daughter “Laraib Atta” and younger son “Bilaval

After many years of his life in Lahore, he moved back to his hometown i.e. Eisa Khel. He constructed a beautiful House on Forty Canals and a mosque namely “Laraib Masjid” near Govt. Degree College Isa Khel.

Television

Attaullah Khan is a regular on TV he has performed for PTV (national Pakistani television) for forty years he has also performed for GEO, ARY, AAJ, DM DIGITAL and many others.

Musicians

Attaullah has his own musicians which travel all over the world with him apart from the UK where he comes alone and gets a few musicians from UK. Atta Ullah Khan’s musicians have been with him for all his career and some of the many include:-

* Salamath Ali Khan – Tabla and sitar

* Javed Ali – Dholak

* Babar – flute

* Sabir Ali – Harmonium

These Musicians have been with Attaullah since the 70’s at a time when Attaullah performed almost every night throughout Pakistan as well as abroad in countries like America, Japan, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Germany, India Italy, Australia, New Zealand.

According to AttaUllah Khan he has performed on many occasions from time after Isha right till dawn and this was mainly during the start of his career in the 70’s, 80’s and even through the 90’s.

Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi

Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi HJ, MC ,(1915 – 2 February 2004), was a 3-Star rank army general officer in the Pakistan Army, and a commander of Pakistan Armed Forces in the East Pakistan who, in 1971, as a Lieutenant General, was in charge of Eastern contingent of the Pakistani Army during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.

He is held responsible by some within the Pakistan Military for having surrendered his forces of nearly 93,000 men to the joint forces of India and Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Forces) at a time when joint forces were preparing to lay siege on Dhaka and thus, bringing to close the Liberation War. General Niazi had, however, always insisted that he had acted according to the orders of the West-Pakistan Military High Command. Following the war, Niazi was made a scapegoat and blamed for much of Pakistan’s massive human rights violations in Bangladesh (he was personally indicted of smuggling and rape by the Hamoodur-Rehman commission) as well as the military and strategic losses during the war. He was subsequently relieved of his position in the army. Throughout the remainder of his life, Niazi had sought court-martial to prove his innocence, but was never charged. Before his death, he authored the book “The Betrayal of East Pakistan”.

Early life

Born to a family in the Punjab province, British India, Niazi enlisted in the British Indian Army as a junior officer, and fought well during World War II. During this conflict, the young Niazi would win a Military Cross and be given the nickname “Tiger” by his superior officer due to his prowess in battle against Japanese forces. His Military Cross was earned for actions along the border with Burma, in which he showed great leadership, judgement, quick-thinking, and calmness under pressure.

He joined the newly-formed Pakistani Army after the partition of India in 1947 and quickly rose through the ranks, earning various awards including the Hilal-i-Jurat twice. He commanded 5 Punjab during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, 14 Para Brigade during operations in Kashmir and Sialkot, and martial law administrator of Karachi and Lahore.By 1971 he had reached the rank of Lieutenant-General.

East Pakistan

He was sent in April 1971 to East Pakistan, following a Pakistani military crackdown on Bengali intellectuals. Niazi himself volunteered for the job of military commander of East Pakistan, when many other officers of Pakistan Army were cautious on the posting. The army leader in East Pakistan at that time, Tikka Khan, was thought to be behind the implementation of the crackdown. Despite this, the situation in East Pakistan was difficult, as Bengali forces in the Pakistani Army had gone into mutiny, large segments of the population were hostile, and an independence movement was gaining steam among the Bengalis. Despite this, Niazi was able to reaffirm Pakistani control over wide parts of East Pakistani territory, opening the window for a political solution to the turmoil – this would not come to fruition.

There is no evidence that Niazi really condemned the crackdown of 25 March 1971, dubbed Operation Searchlight ordered by Tikka Khan. It was only after returning to Pakistan as empty-handed prisoner of war did Niazi criticize Tikka and Rao Farman. Niazi himself admitted that he raised the Razakar forces, who were employed against the Mukti Bahini (guerilla forces) and were used to kill, terrorize people and destroy rural villages. His vows against the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini were notorious. The crackdown against the Bengalis had gone too far, and the result saw Pakistani forces involved in a guerrilla war with the Bengali Mukti Bahini, who were aided by India. After a preemptive strike on the Indian territories in the western front, a full-scale invasion of East Pakistan by India resulted in isolation for Niazi’s forces being ambushed by the Mukti Bahini, and with the absence of external aid, eventual surrender.

Surrender

On 16 December 1971, General Niazi surrendered the 93,000 Pakistani forces in East Pakistan to General Jagjit Singh Aurora General-Officer-Commanding In-Chief of the Indian and Mukti Bahini Allied Forces just after 1300 casualties from the Pakistani side. Niazi signed the instrument of surrender resulting in his surrender along with a sizeable number of Pakistani soldiers and civilians who were taken prisoners (upwards of 93,000 including about 34000 regular army soldiers). This was the largest number of POWs since World War II and included some government officials. Most would remain in captivity for more than three years after the conflict ended as they were to be tried for crimes such as rape and murder of the Bengali populace.[citation needed] Niazi was symbolically the last prisoner of war to cross back to Pakistan. Such actions symbolized his reputation as a “soldier’s general” but did not shield him from the scorn he faced upon his return to Pakistan, where he was made a scapegoat for the surrender. Niazi was stripped of his military rank, and the pension usually accorded to retired soldiers.

The Hamoodur Rahman Commission report revealed that Niazi was guilty of several misconducts during his tenure as martial law administrator in East Pakistan. It confirmed that the General was indulging in paan (chewing tobacco) smuggling from East to West Pakistan and sexual excesses, including, possibly rape as stated by witnesses.In order to clear his name, Niazi sought a court martial, but it was never granted. The former general would try to take up politics in order to clear himself, but he was jailed in order to quell such actions. In 1998 he released The Betrayal of East Pakistan where he blamed Yahya Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for the separation of East Pakistan. Niazi did not accept Hamoodur Rahman report as he believed that it was prepared by one of the guilty parties (Bhutto) and that it was no alternative to a court-martial, where accused persons are allowed to defend themselves, bring in witnesses, cross examine etc. Niazi claimed that a court-martial would have brought out the names of those who later rose to unthinkable heights, as it is easier to find one scapegoat who would help spare dozens (just as others have made similar claims in relation to the treatment of Dr. A.Q. Khan.) Niazi lived out his life in Lahore, his wife predeceasing him.

Legacy

Niazi was a mixture of the foolhardy and the ruthless. He was also noted for making audacious statements like “Dacca will fall only over my dead body”.According to Pakistani author, Akbar S. Ahmed, he had even hatched a far-fetched plan to “cross into India and march up the Ganges and capture Delhi and thus link up with Pakistan.”This he called the “Niazi corridor theory” explaining “It was a corridor that the Quaid-e-Azam demanded and I will obtain it by force of arms”.In a plan he presented to the central government in June 1971, he stated in his own words that “I would capture Agartala and a big chunk of Assam, and develop multiple thrusts into Indian Bengal. We would cripple the economy of Calcutta by blowing up bridges and sinking boats and ships in Hooghly River and create panic amongst the civilians. One air raid on Calcutta would set a sea of humanity in motion to get out of Calcutta”.A journalist from Dawn had observed him thus: When I last met him on 30 September 1971, at his force headquarters in Kurmitola, he was full of beans.

Karamat Rahman Niazi

Admiral Karamat Rahman Niazi, NI(M), SJ, HI(M), (usually shortened to K.R. Niazi) is a retired senior 4 star rank naval officer who served as a Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) of Pakistan Navy from 1979 to 1983. A submariner by profession, Admiral Niazi took over the command of Pakistan Navy on March 22, 1979 from another four star Admiral Mohammad Shariff, after Admiral Mohammad Shariff became Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC).

Naval Career

Niazi is an ethnic Pashtun who was born in Karachi, British Indian Empire. He joined Pakistan Navy in 1952, and was accepted to Britannia Royal Naval College, Britain. He is a graduate of Britannia Royal Naval College, Great Britain, and gained commissioned in Pakistan Navy as Midshipman in 1956, after Pakistan became republic. At first, he was given commissioned in Naval Operations Branch of Pakistan Navy. He progressively elevated the ranks, and in 1964, he was promoted as Commander. On 1 June 1964, when PNS Ghazi was given commissioned into Pakistan Navy, Niazi was the first Commanding officer of the first submarine of Pakistan Navy. He was inducted in newly created squadron of Pakistan Navy, the Submarine Service Branch.

Operation Dwarka

On 2 September, 1965, PNS Ghazi was deployed off Bombay, India under the commander of Commander Niazi. Having being the only submarine, Commander Niazi was ordered to remain off Bombay and attack only the heavy units of the Indian Navy who were close to Karachi port. On September 5, PNS Ghazi was in position to launch an attack the Indian Armada. However, no further engagement between Pakistani and Indian Navy were made. On September 7, 1965, Pakistan Navy launched the Operation Dwarka, where PNS Ghazi had provide an escort to the Pakistan Naval Fleet. After the Dwarka Operation, PNS Ghazi continued to patrol off the Kutch area. She tracked the passive sonar contacts, and were identified as warships.

The contacts were picked up from Bombay proceeding up the Kutch Coast. Despite the crew’s pressure, Cdr. Niaz ordered not to launch an attack on warships as he was given order to attack only heavy units. On September 22, at 19:11 hours, Crdr. Niazi ordered the PNS Ghazi’s torpedo crew to launch an attack on two ASW frigate of Indian Navy. PNS Ghazi submarine dived to 200 feet and rigged for deep submergence. At 20:30 hours, PNS Ghazi fired the first torpedo which was followed by a loud explosion, followed five seconds later by another torpedo was hit.

On 22 September 1965, PNS Ghazi cleared the Pakistan Navy’s controlled area, and without any engagement with Indian Navy, PNS Ghazi safely returned to her home 23 September.

In 1965, Commander, K.R. Niazi was bestowed the third highest award Sitara-e-Jurat, which was awarded to him after 1965 Indo-Pakistan War when he commanded the submarine PNS Ghazi during the successful Operation Dwarka, for which his crew won 10 gallantry awards including 2 SJs and 2 TJs.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

After the war, he, as Captain, was sent to Karachi Naval Base (known as COMKAR) as staff officer. During the 1971 Winter War, he was stationed at the COMWEST (Commander WEST) where he commander the Ormara Naval Base.

Chief of Naval Staff

After the war, he quickly elevated the ranks, and was promoted to 3 star rank Vice-Admiral, where he was made Vice Chief of Naval Staff. In 1979, he was promoted to 4 star rank, and was appointed as Chief of Naval Staff in 1979. He commanded Pakistan Navy from 22 March 1979 till 23 March 1983[4]. In 1978, he was awarded Nishan-i-Imtiaz (Military), which is awarded to all the services chiefs upon taking over their respective commands.

Post-retirement

On January 23, 2008, Admiral (retired) K.R. Niazi was among one of the retired officers who urged former military dictator President General Parvez Musharraf to step down as head of the state to pave way for complete restoration of democracy in the country.

Tariq Niazi

Tariq Niazi (15 March 1940 – 20 April 2008) was a Pakistani field hockey player between 1961 and 1969 and also member of the Olympic team. Niazi was part of the 1964 games in Tokyo where they won a silver medal and the 1968 games in Mexico City where they won the gold. He also competed in the Asian Games. Mianwali’s municipal hockey stadium was renamed as Tariq Niazi Hockey Stadium in Niazi’s honor.

Niazi died on 20 April, 2008 of a cardiac arrest.

Zamir Niazi

Zamir Niazi (1932-2004) was a renowned Pakistani journalist, famous for his commitment to the freedom of the press in Pakistan.

Biography

In 1954, Niazi joined Dawn. He advanced quickly, and was soon a sub-editor. In 1962, he left Dawn to be a chief sub editor and lead writer at its rival, the Daily News. He stayed here for 3 years, before joining the Business Recorder in 1965. Working in various capacities, he stayed at Business Recorder for 25 years. He also edited two periodicals on the side: Recorder, a monthly, and Current, a weekly.

In 1986, Niazi released his book ‘The Press In Chains’, an exposé on the suppression of the media by the Pakistani government. Published by the Karachi Press Club, the book received rave reviews, and several editions were published. It was also translated into Urdu.

Niazi followed up on his success with two more books, both about the same topic. ‘The Web of Censorship’, published in 1994, ventured onto new ground, that of the latest generation of Pakistani journalists. Both books were popular, and Niazi emerged as the hero and leader of the Pakistani freedom of press movement in the 1990s.

In 1995, Niazi returned his Pride of Performance award to the government, in response to its closure of six newspapers. After a long illness, Niazi died in 2004.

Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi

Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi (born May 28, 1974) is a Pakistani cricketer. Misbah has been in and out of the team for much of his career. Misbah is currently the captain of the Pakistan Test cricket team.

Education

He has passed his FSc from PAF College Mianwali, recently named as ARF Colllege Mianwali. He has done his MBA from Lahore and that was finally done from travelling three different colleges of Lahore.

Early career

Misbah was initially noticed for his technique and his temperament in the Tri-nation tournament in Nairobi, Kenya in 2002, as he scored two fifties in the three innings in which he played, however, over the next three Tests he played against Australia, he failed to score more than twenty runs and was soon dumped from the team. Having witnessed Pakistan being eliminated in the opening phase of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, Misbah was part of the changes made to the team in the aftermath of these results, but failed to make much of an impact and was soon dropped again.

Comeback

At the age of 33, Misbah was chosen to play in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007, filling the middle order spot vacated by Inzamam-ul-Haq. He had been regularly making runs in Pakistani domestic cricket and in the years before his recall he was consistently one of the top run scorers at each season’s end, with his first-class average briefly climbing above 50.

Misbah was one of the stars of the tournament, playing a large part in many thrilling run chases. The first was in the group stage against India where he scored a half century in a tied match. He was run out attempting the winning run off the last ball of the match. In their Super 8s encounter with Australia he was named Man of the Match with an unbeaten 66 off 42 deliveries to see his side home with 5 balls to spare. Another unbeaten innings in the semi final against New Zealand saw Pakistan book a spot in the final against India.

He played an instrumental role in Pakistan’s recovery in the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty20 final against arch-rivals India, with three sixes. He hit the first legitimate ball of the last over for six. With 6 runs needed to win off 4 remaining balls, Misbah tried to scoop the ball over short fine leg, but was caught out by Sreesanth.

Misbah scored his maiden Test hundred against India at Kolkata in the 2nd Test of the 2007 series. After India managed 616 in their first innings, Pakistan were at 5 for 150 in reply and in danger of following on when Misbah and Kamran Akmal put together a match saving 207 run stand. Misbah finished on 161 not out. In the 3rd & final Test of the series, Misbah made another fluent century this time finishing on 133 not out.

2008 began with some high points for Misbah as he was elevated to the post of Vice – Captain of the Pakistan team and was awarded a Grade A Contract. Since returning to International Cricket for Pakistan, Misbah has gone through a sustained patch of prolific run scoring. In his last 5 Test Match innings for Pakistan, he has notched up 458 runs at a very high batting average of 152.67 against India. In his last 5 ODIs as well, Misbah has made 190 Runs at an average of 63.33 & in Domestic Cricket for Punjab, he has amassed an astounding 586 runs at an average of 195.33 with 2 centuries and his highest first-class score of 208*.

Dropping out and the captaincy (2010-2011)

Misbah was dropped from the team after the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and missed the teams controversial tour of England in August 2010 Due to the batting-collapses that Pakistan suffered during that tour Misbah was recalled for the subsequent tour against South Africa in the UAE to lead as a captain of the team for test series. Many people expressed there surprise at the appointment of Misbah as captain. Wasim Akram stated that although the decision was surprising if Misbah bats and fields well everything else will go according to plan.Former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson stated that he believed Misbah has the best cricketing brain within Pakistan and he will do incredibly well in the plans for the captaincy Misbah hit back at those who criticised the decision to appoint him captain and stated that he should be given a chance to prove himself In his first match as test captain he set an example for his team when he scored 71* in a 168 run partnership with Younus Khan this helped Pakistan salvage a draw from the match.

Two-test series in New Zealand (2011)

After Three Twenty20’s in which Misbah did not play as Pakistan lost the series 2-1. He returned to captaining the test side and during his third test as captain he claimed his first victory when Pakistan beat New Zealand by 10 wickets. New Zealand were bowled out for 275 and during Pakistan’s first innings Misbah reached a half-century before being trapped in front on 62, however Asad Shafiq top-scored in the innings with 83. Pakistan took a slender lead of 92 and bowled New Zealand out for 110 needing just 19 runs for victory and Pakistan sealed a crushing win when Taufeeq Umar sealed the winning run as Pakistan won by ten wickets and took a 1-0 lead in the series. The following match Misbah stated that the team’s main focus was on improving themselves and that winning the series was a side focus. In the second and final Test of th series, Misbah yet again impressed with the bat. He was trapped in front just one short of a century in the first innings, with Pakistan taking a slender first innings lead. New Zealand posted 293 in their 2nd innings leaving Pakistan needing 274 to win on the findal day. An opening barrage from New Zealand’s seamers left Pakistan struggling at 42-3, with Misbah joining Younis Khan at the crease. The two put on 118 runs and Misbah remained undefeated as Pakistan held out for a draw, finishing 226-5. This secured Pakistan’s first Test series win since 2007 and helped raise Misbah’s average as Captain to 112.75.

World Cup 2011

Pakistan’s middle order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq has not played a World Cup before and that he is playing this one at all. 65 against Kenya in Hambantota and unbeaten 83 at Colomobo versus Sri Lanka so far are the significant performances for Pakistan side. He is getting higher confidence after consistent recital.